Durango in Datong

David singing with Durango

Each time I take an extended trip my daughter Marit tucks one of her stuffed animals in my bag to keep me company.  Most of the time I try to take a photo or two of said toy wherever I went as sort of a travel log of Marit’s little friends.  This time Durango the frog is traveling with me.  He’s named Durango because I picked him up on a client visit I did in Durango, Colorado some years ago.  Not only is Durango a frog, but he’s also a puppet.

Durango went with us to both the Hanging Temple and the 1,000 year old temple outside Datong today.  The above photo is of David from California and Durango on our morning bus ride and the second is of Durango with our bus driver, Mr. Lu.

Mr. Lu being a good sport about posing with a puppet.

Today we woke to snow and frigid temperatures.  The cold and snow weren’t so bad but the 50 mph wind made things uncomfortable.  So much so that we truncated both our visits considerably and because of the icy conditions in the mountains we were unable to go to Wutai Shan as planned and returned to Datong for the night.  Tomorrow we’re off again but keeping to lower levels.

The Hanging Temple is really interesting.  It’s a small temple that started as a Buddhist monastery.  It eventually shifted to Taoism and finally added Confucianism to the mix.  It was built on timbers set into the rock face of a cliff several hundred feet above a river.  In time erosion raised the streambed to the point that allowed one end of the temple to be supported by a masonry foundation added centuries after it was initially built in 491.  It was rebuilt and maintained during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.  You can read more of the particulars via Wikipedia if you like.  What surprised me the most is that the river that used to flow below the monastery is now completely impounded by a large concrete dam that sits to the south and considerably above the structure.  I never heard it was there.

The Hanging Temple

In any case it was so cold and windy up on this shaded west-facing cliff that I didn’t spend much time up there studying it.  There was one thing I did note though which was confirmed by our guide, Anna.  The long slender poles that seem to support the temple really don’t.  They were added in the 1980’s when the number of people visiting increased to the point that there was noticeable deflection (bouncing) when folks walked through.  The poles are there, set an inch or so short of the beams, so that when loaded the beams then rest on the ends of the poles and the bounciness goes away.

The Hanging Temple at second level facing north. It was colder than it looks.

The second structure we visited is called the 1,000 Year Pagoda or Yingxian Wooden Pagoda.  This nine story building was built during the Liao Dynasty in 1056.  It stands more than 200 feet tall and is made entirely of timbers joined using wooden connections.  Over the year metal bands and bolts have been added to stabilize the structure but originally it was all wood.  From the outside it appear to be only five stories tall because of the five levels of balconies but there are actually floors between each of those levels that do not show to the outside and bring the total floors to nine.

The structure is suffering from some serious structural issues.  Personally I’m amazed that tourists are allowed up to the second level as it is pretty scary.  Support beams are completely crushed by both weight and time.  Others have bent past the breaking point while others have rotted away to a considerable extent.  That being said, even in a stiff wind the tower did not noticeably shake.  All the same it needs real repairs and needs them soon.  The building lists several degrees and the third level walls are way out of plumb having shifted to the north.  As a result of all this the floor tilts quite a bit from one side of the building to the other.  The good news is engineers have mounted all kinds of monitoring equipment in there to see what stresses and movement happen over time while they consider alternatives for repair.  Personally I see dismantlement, repair and reassembly the only option but there are no doubt more creative minds than mine considering this.

Yingxian or The Thousand Year Old Pagoda.  Look closely at the wall on the first balcony level to the right.  It's really is leaning more than it looks like in this picture.

Once again, Durango and I are off in the morning.  More ancient buildings await us.

Are you jealous yet?